Wexalian
General Informaton Wexilian comes from Old High German. The speakers live on the islands of Terschelling, Vlieland, Ameland, and in a relatively large chunk of land in the modern-day Netherlands in order of incorporation into the ethnic groups majority. The name came from the mediaeval name of the island, Wexalia. The Wexalian name for itself, Feschle ˈfɛʃlə, comes from the native term wecsile. Phonology and Orthography Phonology Consonants ¹ Also an allophone before /k/ or /g/ ² Allophone of x finally Vowel Phonemic Diphthongs: {aɪ̯ eɪ̯ oʏ̯ oɪ̯} ʁ allophonically becomes a̯ˤ in a closed syllable or ə̯ in an open one. This allophony doesn't occur in an initial open syllable. Stress Stress usually falls on the antepenultimate syllable. In syllables with three or less syllables, the closed syllable take precedence. Yod Metaphony The yod metaphony occurs when eː l j eɪ̯ occur in the adjacent syllable. It's going to referred to with +j in paradigms. *u > y *o/ɔ > ø/œ *ɑ > æ *ə > ɪ Orthography Alphabet (1) Only appears in the digraph ck representing the old geminate K, but now that just means a short vowel before it (2) Stressed E and O in an open syllable are long. E is always ɛ in a closed syllable. Unstressed E in an open syllable is ə. E is ə finally. (3) ʁ allophonically becomes ə̯ˠ in a closed syllable or ə̯ in an open one. This allophony doesn't occur in an initial open syllable.' (4)' S is z intervocalically or pre-voiced consonant. S is ʃ before another consonant and initially. It's s finally. (5) H is always silent within a word, and serves to elongate a vowel in a closed syllable. Initially, it is h (6) Closed syllable. (7) v before another consonant (8) Before ə, initially, finally after a consonant. (9) Initially. (10) In two conditions: finally before ɪ ʏ ʊ; and finally when not preceded by another The letters V, W, X, Q, and Y are used in loans Diacritcs and Multigraphs *''Tz tz'' - t͡s *''Ch ch'' - x (ʃ allophonically before y ɪ ʏ e: ø:). It's ʃ finally or before y e: ø: ə finally. *''Cch cch'' - x or ç (ç allophonically before y ɪ ʏ e: ø:) anywhere *''Sch sch'' - ʃ anywhere *''SS ß'' – s anywhere *''Sz sz'' - z anywhere *(double letter) - pseudo-closed syllable *''Ei ei'' - aɪ̯ *''Ie ie'' - eɪ̯ *''Eü eü'' - y:, ʏ closed syllable *''Jee jee'' - e:ə *''Oa oa'', Ea ea, Öa öa - ɛː œː *''Ä ä'' - æ (ɛ before j) *''Ü ü'' - y, ʏ closed syllable *''Ö ö'' - øː, œ closed syllable *''Ë ë'' - ə *''-en, -el'', ''-er'' - n̩/ən l̩/əl ə *''-eC'' - əC (where C = consonant) *''Pr'' - ʁ (where P = plosive) *''Bf bf'' - v *''Ij ij'' - i *''Uh uh, Üh uh, Eh eh, Äh äh, Eüh eüh'' - y:, e:, æ:, y: Grammar The superscript +j means that the yod metaphony is applied. Noun Noun Declension *Nom-Acc : nominative and accusative *Gen : genitive/possessive *Prep : within a prepositional phrase (including dative) Gerunds (ending with -eng from OHG ''-ung'') are called "Class G." gen. -e | prep. -s | plural -en. Class I – masculine a/o declension It came from the a-stems (where the ja-stems merged). täj is from tag. Class II – eo declension It came from the wa-stems. knjee is from kneo. Class III – feminine a/o declension It came from the ō-stems. gebe is from gëba. ¹ Since gebe already ends in ə, the genitive form doesn't change. Class IV – long i-declension It came from the "feminine abstract noun" declension. höch ''comes from ''hōhī. Class V – masculine i/0 declension It came from the masculine i-declension. gäst is from gast. Class VI – feminine i/0 declension It came from the feminine i-declension. stad ''comes from ''stat. Staz and others like it (where the word ends in /ɑC/ where C = {f x}) suffer a regular irregularity where in the nom-acc form, they're their standard form (stad), but /ɑ/ becomes /æ/ and the fricative if fortified to {p k}. Class VII – n-declension It came from the n-stem weak declension. All of the gendered declensions fused in declension, but not in gender. herze comes from hërza. Class VIII – fused declension It came from the masculine and feminine monosyllabic declensions and applies to the old OHG -nt declension. man came from man. Class IX – r-declension It came from the -r declension. fazer came from fater. Class X – os/es declension It came form the os/es declension. lam came from lamb. Adjective Declension Masculine Applies to Noun Classes I, II, V, VII, IX, X, and G. blinter ''comes from OHG ''blintēr. Feminine / Neuter Applies to Noun Classes III, IV, VI, and VIII. Article The only article in Wexalian is the definite article which acts similar the one in Modern Standard Arabic in that it is used in contexs where the applied noun has been previously mentioned and/or the noun is specific. The lack of an article (or the zero article) acts as referring to any single noun (if singular) or a mass noun (if plural). (*) Often becomes ʃ before another consonant in familiar speech Pronouns The 5th person conjugates to the third person Personal Because the accusative and dative forms of fir and ihr can be confused, they may be marked zf-unz and zf-eü respectively (from combination with the preposition zfu, to). Possessive Reflexive Attach these suffixes to the possessive pronoun. Interrogative / Relative* Verbs The Subjunctive is much more common in Wexalian than most Germanic languages because it began to mean anything that's irrealis. This can be used in various paraphrastic phrases for more moods such as the conditional and exhorative among others. Verb conjugations have been standardized to two sets of suffixes based on the first and second weak conjugations (though, there are a few irregulars for many common verbs such zenken, to think, furken, to work, and häven, to have). The change from present to preterite and past participle has an ablaut (which is affected by the yod metaphony): Grades *Grade 0 : no ablaut *Grade 1 : infinitive *Grade 2 : present singular, imperitive singular *Grade 3 : preterite singular *Grade 4 : preterite plural *Grade 5 : past participle Paraphrastic Phrases *Passive Voice will add in later …… Strong Verbs All strong verbs have an ablaut (weak verbs, comparatively, may be a 0-ablaut) and are conjugated thusly. nehmen, str. VIa, to take, from OHG nëman. *Infinitive: nehm'en'' *Present Participle: nehm'inz'' *Past Participle: g'nom't Weak Verbs Class I From the OHG -en verbs. retten, weak, to save, from OHG retten. *Infinitive: rett'en'' *Present Participle: rett'inz'' *Past Participle: g'rett'it+j Class II From the OHG -ōn verbs. sälben, weak, to anoint, from OHG salbōn. *Infinitive: sälb'en'' *Present Participle: ''sälbönz'' *Past Participle: ''g'sälb'''eß'' Class III From OHG -ēn verbs. bibfen, weak, to shake, from OHG bibēn. *Infinitive: bibf'en'' *Present Participle: bibf'inz+j'' *Past Participle: g''bibf'eß+j Syntax Word Order and Head Direction Wexalian is V2 where the word order is SV₁(P₁)IO(P₂)V₂ in the proper language (S - subject, V₁ - conjugated verb, V₂ - infinitive (followed by participles), I - indirect object, O - direct object, P₁ - preposition, P₂ - postposition). Wexalian is a null subject language like Spanish where the subject pronoun is removed due to the conjugation revealing the grammatical information already. The head direction depends completely on its placement within the sentence and the number of verbs. When there is one verb and no indirect object, the sentence is head final (rückkemmeng). When there are two verbs (or one verb with a direct and indirect object), in the beginning of the sentence, from the subject to the indirect object, the head direction is final (rückkemmeng) whereas the direct object to the second verb is head initial (leizeng). Adpositions also follow this patter where there are preposition for the former and postpositions for the latter. The former is called rückkemmeng and the latter leizeng in Wexalian and how they will be referred to for the rest of the article. rückkemmeng is rücke, back, plus kemmen, to come, plus ''-eng'', gerund suffix. leizeng is leizen, to lead, plus ''-eng'', gerund suffix. Another more accurate definition is that rückkemmeng is head final sentence structure such as Japanese and leizeng is head initial like French. Non-Dative Objects: Adpositional phrases that are not dative go after the object following leizeng order in any order. Though, with one verb, it follows rückkemmeng order after the verb/object. Noun Phrase Adjectives: In rückkemmeng, adjectives are placed before the head noun, whereas in leizeng, adjectives are placed after the head noun. Adjectives take the case of their head noun. Article: In rückkemmeng, they go before the entire noun phrase and after the preposition. In leizeng, they go directly before the noun. Adverbs: They're placed directly before their head noun. If the noun has a definite article, the adverb goes before the article. Adpositions: In rückkemmeng, they go before the entire noun phrase and article, and vice versa in leizeng. Genitives: A genitive phrase is (owned + fen + owner) or simply the possessive pronoun and the owned noun in the correct head direction. The owner takes whatever case it's in and the owned takes the genitive. Verb Phrase Adverbs: They act just like in noun phrases where they go before the verb. Reflexive and Causative: Reflexitive verbs are made through the use of the reflexive pronoun in the accusative or dative (they're are in Pronouns). Causative verbs use the causative suffixes (explained in Verbs) Passive: Formed in a paraphrastic phrase (explained in Verbs) Copula: The copula is fessen. This is used as a "filler verb" where it is describing the subject having a noun or being an adjective. Such as der man ich blinter (the man is blind) where ich is connecting man and blinter. Note that the adjective will take the accusative in these types of sentence. Clauses Independent: This follows the standard word order Dependent: The dependent clause marker (words such as when, because, after, etc.) is placed before the standard word order akin to a clausal preposition. Introductory: The adpositional phrase, gerund, participle, or supine is put in the front of the sentence in leizeng (head initial word order). Embedded: Unlike most Germanic languages, the standard word order is upheld in an embedded clause. Interrogative: The placement of a question word or a rise in voice intonation creates a question. Though, there is a formal question "particle," steimen, which is placed at the head of the clause having the question. Relative: These are introduced with relative pronouns and "where," far. The following dependent clauses follow the standard word order. Lexicon and Texts Lord's Prayer Other Links * GSFA Sentences * /Excerpts/ Sound Changes C - consonant; V - vowel; grave - unstressed; acute - stressed; Ɵ - closed syllable; O - open syllable; C̬ - {b d g l m n}; P - plosive /a/ is recognized as ä. /r/ is recognized as r~ɾ. /s/ and /s̱/ are recognized as s̪ and s~s̱. s̱ > ʃ / _C *s̱co:no > ʃko:no ʃk > ʃ / _# *fis̱k > fiʃk > fiʃ w > v / #_ *wīs > vīs t > t͡s / V_{i i: u u: ɛ e:} *xiutu > xiut͡su g > ɣ / V_V, _# *skuldigon > ʃkuldiɣon {p k} > {f x} / _C *weksile > vexsile d > θ / C_# t > θ / #_VCV, C_VCV, VC_# x > ç / before or after {i e ī ē} *ri:x:i > ri:ç:i ou̯ > u: uo̯ > ɔ: –New Stress Rules¹– Cw{a i ɛ u ɔ} > C{ɔ ʏ œ _u: _ɔ:} Cw{a: i: e: u: o:} > C{ɔ: i: e: _u: _u:} Old Dutch, Latin, and some Old French Loans ɣ > ∅ ! (_# , #_) > j ³ yod metaphony²: {u u: o o: a:} > {y y: ø ø: æ æ:} / _${i i: e: l j} *ubile > ybilə V̀ > ə / C_# ! V: *ʃko:nɔ > ʃko:nə CV̀{n l r} > Cə{n l r} / _# ! i > ɪ *ʃkuldiɣon > ʃkuldiɣən {e a o} > ə / Ɵ_# a: > ɑ ɑ: *furlas > fyrlɑs t > t͡s / _(ə?)n# loss of intertonic vowel⁴ *ybilə > yblə {i y ø u} > {ɪ ʏ œ ʊ} / Ɵ , V_# *fyrlæs > fʏrlæs æ > ɛ / _j V́ > V́: ! Ɵ s > ʃ / #_ eɪ̯ > aɪ̯ ! _{l j} > ɛ ie̯ > i: io̯, ɪo̯ > ø:, œ i:u̯, ɪu̯ > y:, ʏ e:o̯ > e:ə r > ʁ v > f *vīs > fīs i: > eɪ̯ ! _{m n ʁ l z} > ɛ {è: ò: ø̀:} > {ɛ ɔ œ} {æ: ɑ: u: y:} > {æ ɑ u y} t: > t͡:s | ç: > ʃ | x: > xk C: > C Modern French Loans xs > ʃ *wexsile > fɛʃlə {e: o: ø:} > {ɛ: ɔ: œ:} / Ɵ ! _{x ʁ} (p t k) > (f θ x) / ɑ_# *stad > ʃtɑθ ə > ∅ / Ɵ_ *sterno > ʃtɛʁn.ə > ʃtɛʁn b > v / V_C, V_Cə{n l} , V_V̀ *yblə > yvlə d > d͡z / V_V̀ *fater > fɑd͡zəʁ | d > d͡z / #_{i e: e ɛ æ} t͡s > d͡z / V_V̀ , #_ s > z / V_V, _C̬ , _# *a:rlosi > ɑʁlœz θ > ð / V_V, #_ *tagalix:as > ðælʃæz Vʁ > Va̯ˤ / Ɵ | Vʁ > Və̯ / O _C *fʏʁlæs > fʏə̯læz ə > ɪ / {i ɪ e: l j}$_ (yod metaphony) ç > ʃ / {i e:}_# , _{l t s t͡s i y e: ø:}# *ʁiʃi ən, əl > n̩, l̩ {x k} > h / #_ | ç > h x > χ / _# <- allophonic {V: V́ V́:}t > {V: V́ V́:}s / _# *bro:t > bro:s English Loans {θ ð} > t d {ɛ̀ ɔ̀ ɑ̀ ù ì ỳ ø̀} > {ə ə ə ʊ ɪ ʏ ə} (in small, unstressed words such as adpositions) {b d g} > {v d͡z ʁ} / #_ , _# , V_V̀ (in small, unstressed words such as prepositions or the article) {p b t d k g} > {b̥ b̥ d̥ d̥ g̊ g̊} / #_ éɪ̯ > aɪ̯ '-The popular dialectal changes such as the English t-glottalization-' Pʁ > ʁ (similar to t-glottalization in English where it's unofficial but widespread) {t d} > {t͡s d͡z} / _{ə ɪ ʊ ʏ}# , _# ! C_ (in the case of _# without a vowel, it can also be writ as {tˢ dˢ} though most people, i.e. me, simply write {t͡s d͡z}) ¹ Stress usually falls on the antepenultimate syllable. In syllables with three or less syllables, the closed syllable take precedence. ² The yod metaphony in Wexalian occurs if an adjacent syllable contains one of {i i: e: l j}. ³ When lost intervocalically, vowels fuse into diphthongs and two of the same vowels become long ⁴ Short intertonic vowels are lost. Long intertonic vowels are shortened and simplified to their schwa sound, {ɪ ɪ ə ə ə ə ə} for {i y ø e o ɑ/æ u}. This is nullified if it would create a triple consonant cluster. ⁵ Applies to {b d g z} ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Some words *machken weak 2 - to do, to make (OHG mahhōn) *immachten weak 1 - to be done, to be completed, to be finished (OHG in-'', in/into, ''mahhōn, to do participle, ''-en'', weak verb suffix) *fjee - as, like, as such, such *Erde class III, f - Earth (OHG erda) *gebfen str. VIb - to give (OHG geben) *broß class VIII, n - bread (OHG brōt) *fergebfen str. VIb - to forgive (OHG far-'' + ''geben) *skült class IX, f - debt, fault, guilt (OHG sculd) *leizen weak 1 - to lead (OHG leiten) *zöcchen str. IIIb - to pull, to draw towards, to lead s/th towards (w/ dative); to migrate, to move towards (w/ prepositional) (OHG ziohan) *zuzöcchen str. IIIb - to pull towards s/th, to draw s/th to s/th, to attract, to bring toward s/th *ußzöcchen str. IIIb - to pull away from, to draw s/th from s/th, to push away, to remove from *eübl class IV, f - evil (OHG ubilī) *böz adj. - evil (OHG bōsi) *arlesen weak 1 - to deliver, to release from (OHG ārlosen) < arlos, arloste / arlostem, arlese, arlöstze *fen prep. - from Category:August Germlang Challenge Category:Languages Category:Germanic conlangs